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A drone boat packed with explosives detonated within “a couple of miles” of U.S. Navy warships and commercial vessels off the coast of Yemen on Thursday, only hours after the White House and several other countries issued a “final warning” to the Iran-backed Houthi rebels to cease attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea or face possible military action.
It was the 25th such attack since the Houthis began targeting merchant ships at the start of the war in Gaza but the first to use an unmanned surface vessel (USV) as a weapon. It also comes just days after a clash between U.S. Navy ships and Houthi gunboats menacing a container ship in the region resulted in a firefight leaving a reported 10 Houthi fighters dead.
“We all watched as [the drone] exploded,” Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Navy operations in the Middle East told reporters about Thursday’s latest incident. “Fortunately, there were no casualties, and no ships were hit.”
The Houthis have launched dozens of missiles and drones at commercial shipping passing through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait linking the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea. In December, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin organized “Operation Prosperity Guardian” to protect the merchant vessels.
Admiral Cooper said more than 20 countries pledged support to the mission. Still, at this point, only the U.S., Great Britain, and France are providing warships to the coalition. Admiral Cooper said he expects Greece and Denmark to send naval vessels to the area “in a couple of weeks.”
The Houthis said they are targeting ships linked to Israel out of support for Hamas militants in their war in the Gaza Strip. But Admiral Cooper said at least 55 countries have some connection to the vessels that have been attacked, either through registration, ownership, the nationality of the crew, or where the goods were produced or were to be sold.
“This is an international problem that requires an international solution,” Admiral Cooper said.
About 1,500 merchant ships have passed through the Red Sea since the start of Operation Prosperity Guardian. Admiral Cooper said he expects the Houthi attacks to continue, despite the presence of U.S. and allied warships in the region.
“There are no signs their irresponsible behavior is abating,” Admiral Cooper said.
Houthi officials said they aren’t backing down, despite the threat of military retaliation. On Thursday, Maj. Gen. Muhammad Nasser Al-Atifi, the Houthi defense minister, said the rebel group’s response to any allied attack will be harsh.
“Let it be understood by the Americans, the British, and the French that we do not accept injustice, nor do we accept being touched by the hand or a tampering or adventurous person,” he said according to SABA, Yemen’s news agency. “Whoever is driven by his misfortune and his judgment to mess with us has no one to blame but himself.”
A key Republican lawmaker said the attacks on commercial shipping are part of a global crisis brought on by weak presidential leadership.
“It is time for President Biden to allow our regional commanders the freedom of action they need to end terrorist behavior by the Houthis,” said Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the top GOP member on the Senate Armed Services Committee. “We cannot let terrorists dictate the flow of global trade in one of the world’s largest shipping lanes.”
While 1,500 ships may have passed through Houthi territory since Operation Prosperity Guardian began, several shipping companies have decided to bypass the region in favor of a much longer route around the Cape of Good Hope on the southern tip of Africa.
“We will continue to pause all cargo movement through the area while we further assess the constantly evolving situation,” officials with the Danish shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk said following a Dec. 30, 2023 attack on one of its ships, the Maersk Hangzhou. “An investigation into the incident is ongoing. We remain committed to minimizing the impact on our customers’ supply chains.”
Admiral Cooper said his staff is in regular discussions with “dozens if not hundreds” of shipping companies about their concerns for the safety of their ships and their crew while transiting through the region.
“I’ve been communicating with them on at least a weekly basis, if not more often,” he said.
While the Houthis have indicated they have no interest in stopping their missile and drone attacks, Admiral Cooper noted that Operation Prosperity Guardian warships won’t be launching attacks on missile and drone sites in Yemen.
“I wouldn’t speculate on future operations, but anything that does happen will be outside the boundaries of Operation Prosperity Guardian, which is, as mentioned, defensive in nature only,” he said.
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.
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